Vacation Interlude
by starbuckmeggie
Summary: What happened between kcat1971's Vacation Part 1 and Vacation Part 2. Not part of the weird universe I'm creating, but definitely part of hers!
1. Chapter 1

Greetings all. Just a little background on this piece; I've written this for kcat1971 at her request. Ordinarily, I don't co-author stories, mostly because my writing patterns are strange and don't often operate on a time table, blah blah blah. However, this lovely person gave me, essentially, creative freedom and it seemed like an interesting challenge for me. I realize I'm making this sound very clinical, but it really was outside of my comfort zone and it took me longer to write than I expected. I tried to give it a bit of her kcat's voice, too, to kind of keep it in line with her story, hence the alternating viewpoints. It's in five chapters because the overall story is over 6,000 words and that seems like a lot for one story, so I'll post one chapter a day (I think—short term memory and all that). The first couple of chapters are kind of general rating, but that'll change, so be aware of that. Anyway, enjoy, and thanks to kcat1971 for asking me to do this!

* * *

I walk down the hotel corridor hand-in-hand with my husband. My husband! I look over at him and grin, and even though he keeps his eyes forward, he's smiling, too. His dimples are somehow even more pronounced.

"See something you like?" he teases, his fingers tightening around mine.

I just shrug nonchalantly. "Eh."

He nudges me with his shoulder, sending me a look, but I just keep grinning. I don't think there's anything that could bring me down right now.

When we reach our door, he stops and turns to me, grabbing onto both of my hands. I can feel his fingers fiddling with my wedding band, and I can't help but touch his in response. We're _married_. After all this time, we're husband and wife. How did that happen?

"This is it. Our honeymoon."

"Our honeymoon…" I whisper, my voice choking a little, and he tilts his head at me.

"You all right? Do you need some more time?"

I squeeze his fingers, shaking my head just a little. "I'm good. It's just…wow."

He leans forward and places a brief, sweet kiss on my lips. "No big deal, right? Just beginning of the rest of our lives, right?"

I shiver from head to toe, feeling nothing but excitement at the thought of forever. "Is that all? Definitely not a big deal."

We pause for a moment, smiling at each other goofily. It seems that I can't help but just smile right now. I'm happy. I'm ridiculously, obscenely happy. Twenty-four hours ago, I never imagined that I would be married right now, but now…I can't imagine my life any other way. This is right.

"Let's do this," he says, bending over a little, his arms reaching out for me.

"What're you doing?"

"Carrying you over the threshold."

"Josh!" I exclaim, jumping away from him. "You have a thing with your back."

"You weigh, like, nothing—"

"I'm very substantial and—"

"And it'll just be for a few feet, I swear. I'll get you over the threshold and down you'll go." Before I can protest, he has his arm under my knees. The other arm wraps around my waist and I yelp in surprise, throwing my arms around his shoulders as I'm lifted up in the traditional bridal style. He grunts a little under my weight, and it's all I can do not to smack him, less for not realizing a woman who's nearly six feet tall isn't going to weigh ten pounds and more for his insistence that he could do this.

"If you throw your back out…" I warn, but he ignores me, shifting me a little.

"No, I've got you," he answers, and I almost believe him. "Could you get the door, though?"

"Where's the—"

"Inside pocket. Left side."

I fish out the card and push the key in the slot, forcing myself to pause for the light to turn green before I pull it back out and push the handle. Using his shoulder, Josh nudges the door open and somehow manages to carry me into the room. My mouth actually drops open, and Josh lets out a little "oof" as I go almost completely slack in his arms.

"Josh," I breathe. He carefully puts me on the ground, but keeps his arm around my waist. Candles are flickering everywhere—LED candles, I notice, which explains how this is possible. The floor and the bed are covered with rose petals. "This is…wow."

"I did good?" he asks softly, and I turn to look at him. Amazingly, he looks almost bashful. Insecurity is not something I'm used to seeing from Josh. He leans more toward arrogance on a good day, and the rest of the time he's downright cocky. Seeing him unsure about this means almost as much to me as anything else that's happened so far. It means it matters to him.

"Honey, you did _great_ ," I whisper, wrapping my arms around his shoulders to pull him in for a kiss.

He pulls away a few moments later, grinning from ear to ear. "'Honey'?" he asks softly.

"It's something I'm trying. Is it weird?"

He actually looks thoughtful for a moment. "I don't hate it." I feel a smile slowly spread across my cheeks and he clears his throat, suddenly looking uncomfortable. He takes my hand and pulls me into the room, showing me around as if I didn't see it earlier today. He leads me over to the huge glass doors and stares out at the ocean. "Some view, huh? I know I have a view of the nation's capital from my place, but this is something else."

He's not wrong. There's still the faintest hint of pink on the horizon, the color reflecting on the rippling water. The rest of the sky is dark, and stars are twinkling everywhere. The night sky isn't something you get to see a lot of in DC, and out here, away from anything resembling a big city, the view truly is spectacular.

"Josh," I say softly, and he turns his head a little, his lip curling up in a half smile. I tug on his hand and make him turn to face me.


	2. Chapter 2

My heart is pounding. Seriously pounding. I don't know why I'm suddenly so nervous. I've had sex with Donna before. Granted, not that many times, but it's not going to be a mystery.

But…it will be the first time I'm making love to my wife. That's kind of a big deal.

Her fingers rub my hand gently and she smiles at me in understanding. "It's just me," she says. As if that's reassuring.

"You're not _just_ anything, Donna. You're a big deal. You're the one who matters."

"I love you," she says. "You know that, right? I mean, really know that? Unconditionally and forever. Whatever it is you're thinking or you're worried about, don't. We're in it together. "

"I just want everything to be perfect," I answer, feeling myself shiver when she tells me she loves me. I don't know if I'll ever get used to that.

"Nothing's perfect. I wouldn't want it to be. I just want it to be us, flawed and damaged and…human. I want our life together, Josh. It's going to be messy and chaotic, and I wouldn't want it any other way."

"You can be surprisingly eloquent when you want to be," I tease, feeling my nerves start to dissipate.

"One of us has to be the voice of reason," she counters, squeezing my hand.

"If you're the voice of reason in this marriage—"

"Don't finish that sentence."

"Then we're both in trouble." I can't help myself. Getting a rise out of her, even if she's just doing it for my benefit, is too good to pass up. It helps bring a little normalcy to this entire whirlwind courtship and wedding.

"You did want to have sex tonight, right? Because that doesn't sound like someone who wants to have sex tonight."

I pull at her hand a little, happy that she doesn't resist in the slightest. When our bodies are flush, I put my hands on her hips, rubbing my thumbs over the silky material of her dress. "Yes, please."

"Then maybe save the snark for a different night," she suggests, her face millimeters from mine.

"Anything you say, dear."

Her nose scrunches up adorably and I press a kiss to her lips. I can't get over that I'm allowed to do this.

"Don't call me 'dear,'" she mumbles against me, making me chuckle. "That's not the way to get laid."

"So many rules," I whisper, pressing my forehead to hers. "Is this what marriage is going to be like?"

She leans back and gives me a look—one I've seen repeatedly over the years. "Only if you insist on being an idiot all the time."

"Fair warning; I'm probably going to be an idiot a lot of the time. I'm not going to do it on purpose. I just need you to be patient with me."

She takes pity on me, draping her arms over my shoulders, her posture relaxing. "I know. We're both going to screw things up."

"Not you," I say, only partially teasing. It's unfathomable to me that Donna would be less than amazing at anything she set her mind to.

"It's not like I've been married before, Josh. It's been years since I was in anything that even resembled a relationship. I'm going to do stupid things, too. We're just going to have to love each other and hope for the best."

"I _do_ love you," I tell her, tightening my grip on her hips. "You'll never have to doubt that."

Her head tilts a little, studying me for a moment, but she doesn't say anything. She just kisses me again, letting me know in no uncertain terms that we're done with the heart-to-heart stuff for the night. Or at least for a few hours.

I pull her closer to me, my hands sliding to her back, and I'm surprised that I'm met with bare skin. I didn't take the time to examine her dress too carefully earlier—in fairness, I saw her walking down an aisle and at that moment, it wouldn't have mattered if she was wearing a garbage bag. I definitely noticed that she looked amazing, but everything else sort of drifted away as we actually got married. But now…now I let my hands slide up her back, and find only the thinnest of straps here and there in my way.

Her hands shift, sliding down my chest, and she pushes at my suit jacket, managing to get it off my shoulders before it snags on my elbows. I don't want to let her go.

She makes a frustrated noise but doesn't stop kissing me. Instead, her hands move back to my chest, and she tugs at my tie a few times before I feel it come loose. I have no idea what happens to it because she's suddenly working on the buttons of my shirt.

I let my hands move up her back, rubbing her shoulder blades for a few moments before going to the straps of her dress. I pull at them carefully, knowing full-well that my first major screw-up as a husband would be to tear her wedding dress. The straps don't go very far, the dress staying in place, and either she was sewn into it, or there's a zipper hidden on it.

"Donna," I mumble, my hands fumbling uselessly at the thin layer of silk that's covering her body.

She giggles and pulls away, her chest heaving appealingly as she breathes heavily. "You first."

"Donna." This time it comes out as a whine. She just giggles at me again.

"C'mon, Josh," she answers, taking a tiny step closer to me. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

Desire absolutely shoots through me, almost knocking me off balance. I shake my arms, letting the jacket fall to the floor. I pull the shirt over my head, Donna having gotten enough of the buttons undone to make it easy to dispose of. I yank at my belt buckle at the same time I kick off my shoes, shoving my pants down my legs a few seconds later.

I should be embarrassed with myself right now. I don't know that I've ever taken my clothes off that quickly in my entire life, and my wife must think I'm no better than a horny teenager right now. All told, I'm not. Nothing has ever turned me on more than seeing Donna in a wedding gown. All I can think about right now is getting it off of her, and if taking my clothes off is the fastest way to do it, then so be it.

"Well," she breathes, stepping a little closer. "I guess someone's eager." Before I can answer, I realize she's not looking at my face. I follow her gaze down to where my boxer shorts are tented, my erection straining toward her. I shudder and close my eyes tightly as another wave of desire rushes through me, and I feel myself get harder. What she does to me.

Her hand reaches out to touch me through my shorts and grab her wrist, making sure to keep my grip gentle, though I can feel myself shaking.


	3. Chapter 3

I look up as Josh grabs my wrist, shuddering when I see how dark his eyes are. His chest is heaving, and I can feel more than see him shake as he holds onto me.

He steps a little closer to me, close enough so that I can feel him straining against me, low on my stomach. I feel my insides quiver in response. I've never wanted him more than I do right now. No—it's not just want. I _need_ him.

"Your turn," he says, his voice low and gravely. "Show me."

It takes a moment for me to register what he's asking; I pull my wrist out of his grasp and turn, lifting my arm to show him the zipper hidden on the side of my dress. I watch him as he focuses all of his efforts on pulling the zipper down, his hands actually shaking as he struggles to not tear the thing in the process.

I let out a breath when he's finally done; he tugs at the dress and it gives way without a fight, pooling at my feet in a silky puddle. He groans and drops to his knees, pressing his face to my stomach as he wraps his arms around my hips. I can feel his breath, hot and damp, against me, and I grab onto his shoulders, holding myself up.

"I love you," he whispers, his lips trailing across my stomach in an open-mouth kiss. "I love you so much."

Tears spring to my eyes, and I bite my lip, trying to force them back. This is not the time for crying, no matter how sweet he's being. I slide one of my hands through his hair, making it stick up more than usual. "I love you, too," I answer, hoping he can hear me.

He tilts his head back, giving me a tremulous smile. It hits me all over again just how huge this is. We just got _married_. After all this time, after all we've been through, we've finally stopped fighting it. We're in this together for the long haul. And it's a big deal. We're bound together for eternity. It was just about the most impulsive thing I've ever done, and nothing has ever felt more right.

I give him a little tug and he stands slowly, his lips sliding across my skin. He pauses at my bare breasts, his hands coming up to carefully cup them. "No bra," he breathes, a statement more than a question.

"Didn't fit under the dress," I answer with a shrug, the words barely leaving my mouth before he has his mouth wrapped around my nipple, his teeth scraping gently across my sensitive flesh. I hiss and tighten my grip on him. One of his arms wraps around my back, pulling me closer, and his other hand slides down my hip, tugging at the lacy scrap of underwear I have on. Truly, there was no way to fit much of anything under this dress, and his reaction to me now makes me glad I didn't bother to try.

He switches to other nipple, and all I can do is let out a moan, my head falling back. His mouth is incredibly skilled, which doesn't come as any great surprise, all things considered.

He straightens a little, his lips moving up my chest to my neck. His hands go to my neck and I feel him fumbling with the clasp of the beautiful necklace he gave me as my "something blue." He kisses the underside of my jaw and steps away from me, placing it carefully on the nightstand. I take that moment to carefully gather up my dress and drape it across the armchair in the corner of the room. Within seconds, Josh's arms are around me, his fingers tickling up and down my torso. I lean into him, my head falling back to rest on his shoulder as his hands travel up and down my body, exploring slowly. He cups my breasts again, kneading softly. One of his fingers carefully explores my belly button, my muscles twitching in response. His hand dips beneath the edge of my panties and he strokes me gently. I buck against him anyway, pushing my hips against his touch. He presses his lips to my neck at the same moment I feel one of his fingers slide into me. My knees go weak for a few seconds as I gasp, and his arm tightens around me to keep me upright.

He doesn't tease me about my response, nor does he gloat about his apparent prowess. He just maneuvers another finger into me, keeping his touch gentle but somehow also insistent. I push my ass into him, rubbing against his erection. His entire body tenses and he nips at the skin of my neck in response.

While he's momentarily distracted, I turn in his arms, unfortunately dislodging his magic fingers in the process. I push at his boxers, shoving them over his hips and let gravity handle the rest as they drop to the floor. I wrap my hand around him, stroking him gently. He lets out a shuddery breath and presses his forehead to mine, letting me explore his body. We've done a little bit of this before now, and we have nothing but time beyond tonight to investigate every square millimeter of each other's bodies. I don't think either of us will be able to handle much more of this foreplay before we combust, but the need to touch him is overwhelming.

"God, Donna," he whispers, his fingers suddenly digging into my hips. I swallow heavily but don't say anything in return. He feels amazing, his skin hot and velvety, reacting to my touch in ways that make me almost insane with desire.

He pushes at my underwear; I can tell he's getting impatient. I don't move to help him and instead just focus on stroking him, now with a little more pressure. With a grunt, he pulls away from me and we stare at each other, both breathing heavily. A moment later, he yanks my panties down and I step out of them automatically, kicking them out of the way. Our arms wrap around each other instantly, our lips meeting in a desperate kiss.

I feel him turn me and push me backward, my knees hitting the edge of the bed. I give him a tug, trying to pull us both down, but he stands firm. "Wait, wait, wait," he mumbles against my mouth.

"Why?" I ask, starting to feel impatient myself.

He pulls away from me again, yanking back the comforter on the bed. Red rose petals go fluttering all over the room and he gives me a sheepish smile, shrugging. "The flowers look really romantic, but I figure they'll probably get stuck to a whole bunch of places."

I bite my lip, but a snort bursts out of me anyway. I cover my mouth but it's no good. I start laughing almost uncontrollably at the mental image of the two us covered in sweat and rose petals, and the places we'd find them for days to come. He starts to chuckle, too, breaking out into laughter a moment later. I wrap my arms around him and we hold onto each other as we shake with the giggles.

"You okay over there?" he manages to ask, getting himself a bit more under control before I do.

I look into his eyes, smiling broadly. "This is the marriage that I want."

He tilts his head, looking confused. "What do you mean?"

"This!" I exclaim, laughing again. "The absurdity. We're standing buck naked in the middle of our hotel room on our wedding night in hysterics over the thought of where we'd find those petals in the morning, or the day after that. I want things to be stupid like this sometimes."

"Well, you're in for a treat, because I'm pretty sure I can make things stupid a lot of the time."

"I'm sure we'll both manage to bring the stupid, Josh. I just want us to be able to laugh at ourselves. I don't ever want us to stop being friends."

He grins at me, deep dimples forming in his cheeks. He pushes a piece of hair behind my ear before cupping my face, his thumb stroking my cheek. "Well, it's very friendly of you to let me see you naked."

"I _am_ friendly that way," I answer, stepping a little closer to him.

"I have a few ideas of how you could be even friendlier."

"Do tell."

His mouth finds mine again, kissing me slowly. We're both still smiling.

He gives me a gentle nudge and the backs of my knees hit the bed again. This time, we lower ourselves together until we hit the mattress, shifting until we get situated. He drapes himself partially on top of me, one of his legs in between mine, his arm wrapped under my shoulders to hold me close. His other hand slides across my body, moving gently over my nipples, skimming across my clavicle then down my sternum. He strokes my stomach, his fingers sliding low, and my hips shift toward him of their own volition. He traces the inside of my thigh and I let out a frustrated noise, needing the contact. He smiles at me again, a little less broadly this time, his eyes a bit more serious. I lean up, pressing my lips to his throat. He hums in happiness, the vibrations tingling against my lips. Slowly, tenderly, he strokes his fingers down me, making me shudder.


	4. Chapter 4

I let out a deep breath, trying to maintain my composure as I press my fingers into my wife. She's so warm and so wet that I almost lose it right there. She lets out a tiny whimper, her legs falling open even more to accommodate me. I look down at her, and she gazes back at me, her eyes dark and glassy, her skin flushed, glowing with a thin layer of perspiration. Slowly, very slowly, I pull my hand back until I'm almost completely out of her, then slide back in just as carefully. She shudders from head to toe, one of her hands coming up to grip my bicep.

"Josh," she whispers, and I nearly collapse next to her. I press my lips to hers, kissing her deeply. My hand sets up a steady rhythm, and I revel in the feeling of her hips rising up to meet me, pushing against the contact.

"I love you so much," I groan into her mouth. Now that I've started telling her how I feel about her, I never want to stop. I want to say it all the time. I need her to know that what I feel for her is uncontrollable and deep, beyond anything I even imagined feeling for another person at any point in my life. All I want is for Donna to be happy, and by some unfathomable twist of fate, I seem to do the trick. I never thought I could be this lucky.

She turns her head, gasping for air as she moans, her voice lower than I've heard before. I move my attention to her neck, nipping gently at the delicate flesh. She gasps and her body jerks. I feel myself twitch in response, my body responding to hers. I'm almost painfully hard right now, but there's no way in hell I'm going to stop what I'm doing for her just to satisfy my own needs.

I drag my mouth lower, pressing my mouth to anything it can reach. My teeth scrape across her chest bone and she hisses—I pause for a moment, waiting to see if she wants me to stop, but she just pushes herself against my hand eagerly, creating more friction.

I nuzzle at her breast, pushing my nose against it teasingly, though I think I'm teasing myself more than her at this point. My tongue darts out, tasting her salty skin, before I wrap my lips around her nipple, sucking hard. She jumps and her hand comes up to my head, holding it in place. I feel my cheeks quirk up in a grin, but I let her hold me where she wants me.

My hand starts to move faster, my fingers pressing up inside of her, the heel of my hand rubbing against her with every stroke. She's moaning continuously, every noise she makes going straight through me. I lift my eyes to her face, trying to watch her. She looks like she's concentrating, her brow furrowed, her eyes screwed shut, her mouth open. Her hips push against me frantically and I know she can't be far off right now.

With that, I pull away from her completely. Her eyes snap open and she props herself up on her elbows, staring at me in shock. "What the hell?" she gasps. Her chest heaves appealing as she gasps, her hips are still thrusting just a little, searching for contact, and part of me feels just a tiny bit bad for stopping but..I want to be a part of this.

I crawl on top of her then, pressing my lips to hers. Her arms wrap around me and I collapse against her body, both of us letting out a little grunt as we collide. Her legs fall open to cradle me and we push against each other slowly.

"You drive me crazy, you know that?" I whisper. One of her legs wraps around my hips in response, pulling us closer together.

"What do you think you do to me?" she answers just as softly. I lean back a little to look in her eyes. They're still dark—so dark that I can hardly see the blue that surrounds her pupils—but I can see so much in them. Beyond the lust and desire of right now, even beyond the love and friendship, is happiness.

My heart swells to nearly bursting. I always thought that was a figure of speech, but now I know it can really happen. I feel almost overwhelmed with emotions right now, and my insides ache. I'm _married_ —forty-eight hours ago, I had zero plans for matrimony, at least in the immediate sense, and now I can't imagine my life any other way.

"Donna…" I start, my voice getting choked. She bites her lip and nods.

"I know," she answers, bringing one hand up to run through my hair. "Me, too."

I think my heart actually explodes. We lean in to kiss each other, and I settle my weight more completely on her. I only worry for a second about crushing her before I remember just how strong she is. Nothing as simple as my body on hers could break her.

"Make love to me, Josh," she breathes against my lips, making me shudder. I feel her shift a little beneath me, her legs bent at the knee, her feet braced next to my hips. By some unspoken agreement, we both reach in between our bodies to guide me into her.

I groan loudly, burying my face in her neck as I slide slowly into place. Her nails dig into my back as she whimpers, her entire body shaking. Once I'm in all the way I pause, taking deep, calming breaths. We haven't done this so many times that I can feel even slightly blasé about it. Donna feels like paradise, and it's been far too long since I've had sex on a regular basis to assume I have complete control of my body. Never mind the absence of a condom; that whole no-barriers feeling is intense. Once she told me that she was on the pill and didn't feel that added protection was necessary…well, I've never had a woman trust me that much. In fact, she's the only woman with whom I've never used a condom, and maybe one day I'll have the guts to ask if she's done this with any other man.

She kisses my shoulder, her grip on my back relaxing as she lets out a deep breath. I'm glad one of us feels like they're in control of themselves. I just hope that she's already pretty far along because I don't think I'm going to be able to last for any length of time.

Keeping my face in her neck, I take a deep breath and pull my hips back, almost leaving her completely, before I slide back in slowly. I feel her shudder. I do it again, trying to keep it slow, trying to give myself time to adjust before it's all over.

"Oh, my God," she whispers, her hips coming off the bed slightly to meet mine. "Ohhhhhhh."

I open my mouth and suck in the soft skin of neck, trying to distract myself. I'm not sure if Donna moaning during sex is better than anyone else's moaning, or if it's simply because it's Donna, but hearing her nearly takes me over the edge. Nothing is sexier. Knowing that I'm the one causing her to moan…well, no amount of fantasizing over the years prepared me for that.

Her nails scratch lightly down my back and I pause my movements, shivering from head to toe. I bite down a little on her neck, trying not to hurt the delicate flesh even as I struggle for control.

"Don't stop," she gasps, her hands low on my back trying to tug me closer. " _Joooosh_."

I lift my head and stare at her, my entire body shaking as I fight every urge I have to move. "You're gonna have to stop with the…" I clench my jaw as she tightens her inner muscles around me, squeezing me to her.

"What?" she breathes, continuing to move against me, thrusting her hips slowly.

"Stop with the moaning and the scratching my back," I finally manage to grind out, opening my eyes to, hopefully, glare at her.

Her eyebrow quirks up and she actually stops moving. "You want me to stop?"

" _Yes_. No! Donna…you're making things happen faster than I want them to, and I want this to be good for you."

She digs her nails into my back for good measure, making me shudder. "And you're under the impression that things aren't good for me right now?"

I open my mouth, struggling to form an answer. All I can manage is, "Uhhhh."

"Everything feels _amazing_ , Josh." She leans up a little and presses an open-mouth kiss to my chin. "Don't hold back."

"But," I whisper, pushing her hair off her forehead. "I thought you wanted me to make love to you."

"You are," she answers, her hips resuming their lovely, torturous rhythm. "It doesn't matter if it's slow or fast because it's you and me. Whatever it is we do, as long as we're together when we do it, we're making love. So stop worrying so much. We have the rest of our lives to do the slow, sweet thing. Right now, I just want it to happen the way that it's going to happen. I need _you_ , Josh. That's all I've ever needed."

She's managed to make me speechless. I don't know that I ever realized she was quite so eloquent. All I want is for tonight to be special, but she's right—the only thing we need for that is each other. It's our wedding night. After all these years, we're together, and that's special.

Instead of using words, I bend down to kiss her, moving myself against her. I stop worrying about being slow and delicate, and just follow what her body is doing. She's telling me what she needs without having to voice it. We've worked in tandem for so long; there's no need to fight that instinct just because we've added sex to the mix. She moans happily, and I answer by thrusting against her harder. Her nails dig into my back again and this time all I can think about is how it turns me on more than I ever would have expected instead of how I'm getting too excited too quickly.

I prop myself up suddenly, taking her all in. She's more beautiful every time I look at her. Her blonde hair is spread out on the pillow beneath her head, nearly glowing in the candlelight. Her normally fair skin is stained dark pink. Her breasts bounce with every thrust, exciting the Neanderthal part of my brain to no end. She watches me though hazy, almost sleepy looking eyes. In between gasps and moans, her teeth worry her full bottom lip. My head swims. She's mine. Forever. Longer, if possible. I'm gonna get to tell people that she's my wife. No—I can't wait to say that I'm her husband, just to watch the shock on strangers' faces when they see how up I married.

I'm suddenly overcome with a wave of love so powerful that it would knock me off my feet if I were upright. Instead, I collapse against her, holding her tight. Our hips push against each other at a frenetic pace, creating as much friction as possible. I feel her legs drape over the backs of my thighs, pulling me closer. I would literally crawl inside of her right now if I could, if it was possible, and I still don't think that would be close enough.

" _Ohhhhhhhh_ ," she moans into my ear, her muscles clenching around me. "Like that." Her voice is tight and high-pitched, and her entire body tenses. I press my lips to her throat, my tongue darting out to taste her salty skin.

She drags her nails up my back, and I can't help but groan as I jerk out of control for a few seconds. "God, Donna!" I gasp, trying to get myself back under control.

"More," she breathes—no, demands—and I couldn't deny her even if I wanted to. I start to move faster, harder, my strokes shorter as I'm reluctant to be even an inch or two away from her at this point. She gasps, her head turning to one side, her eyes slamming shut. Meanwhile, I can't stop staring at her. She's gorgeous and glorious and perfect.

She turns back to me, her mouth open as she pants, tiny moans falling from her lips every time I thrust into her. I press my lips to hers, kissing her as best I as I can around our heavy breathing. Her legs tighten over my thighs, holding me so closer that I almost can't move. I rotate my hips instead, rubbing against her as fast as I can.

"Josh," she gasps suddenly. Her nails bite into my shoulder blades so hard that if they don't draw blood, I'll be surprised. I grunt, though at that moment it's not entirely in pain. " _Josh_."

I lift my head in time to see her eyes fly open. Her entire body tenses beneath mine, every muscle as hard as a rock and the moment stretches into eternity. I take in every bit of her that I can, the flush of her skin, the intense dark of her eyes, the way her breath seems to have caught in her throat. All of a sudden, she's wailing, the sound echoing around the room and nearly bursting my eardrum. She claws at me frantically, her hands not able to really grasp onto anything. Her hips press against mine erratically, our wonderful rhythm thrown off as she comes apart around me. " _Jooooooooosh_ ," she moans.

I'm done. My body takes over at the sound of her calling for me. I move against her hard and fast and sloppily, racing toward the finish line, desperate to be where she is. My entire body feels like it starts to vibrate as I approach orgasm. The pit of my stomach tightens. A sound that I've never heard or made before rips out of me and I feel myself fall into oblivion.


	5. Chapter 5

He buries his face in my neck, still pounding into me. I hold on as tightly as I can, rocking against him to draw out my own orgasm. The aftershocks rip through me, almost as intense as my climax, and it all feels so good—so unbelievably _good_ —that I nearly start sobbing during the whole thing. Nothing has ever felt like this before. There's no doubt that our encounters before this have been amazing, but this tops them all. I feel like I've left my body.

His breath comes in shorts bursts against my skin, and I can feel his entire body twitching. I readjust my legs, wrapping them around the small of his back, whimpering when that changes the angle, sending a few more waves through me. His arms tighten around me and we rock against each other, our bodies slowly coming back to earth.

I exhale, the noise coming out like a moan, and I feel him chuckle. He kisses my neck a few times before moving to my mouth, neither of us able to accomplish much around our big, goofy smiles. He rolls off me, sprawling out on his back, and I can see his chest expanding and contracting rapidly out of the corner of my eye, and turn my head a little to study him. I feel an odd little rush go through me knowing I put him in that state.

"See something you like?" he pants, somehow managing to turn the corner of his mouth up into something like a smirk, echoing his words from earlier.

I roll my eyes and stretch, hearing him gasp as I thrust my chest upward. "Not particularly, no."

He chuckles, turning on his side to face me. "Touché." His hand comes out, sliding across my stomach to my hip, pulling me a little closer. "How're you feeling?"

I'm overcome for a moment by memories of our first night together, how he looked at me when he asked the same question. It feels like a lifetime ago. How was that only last week? How has so much happened in so little time? We have a new president, we lost a dear friend…I'm married.

"Donna?"

"A little overwhelmed," I answer. I always want to tell him the truth. I don't know if that'll pan out, but at least I can start our life together by being honest.

His forehead scrunches in concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing's _wrong_. A lot's happened in a very short amount of time. I guess I'm still processing it."

He leans in, pressing a kiss to my cheek. "I get it." He pauses, lost in thought for a moment. "You don't...you don't regret marrying me, do you?"

"God, no, Josh. Never. I could never regret that. You're the best decision I ever made."

He lets go of my hip and grabs my hand, bringing it up to kiss the palm. "I love you so much." The candlelight glints off his wedding band, and it strikes me how right it looks there. His hands were made for it—some guys have wonderful, slim fingers that look tailor-made for wedding rings, and maybe I'm biased, but Josh is one of those guys.

I'm just enormously happy that the ring he's wearing is one I put there.

"I'll never regret you," I whisper. I mean that in so many ways, the least of which is marrying him. So much of my life happened because he didn't kick me out of his office all those years ago, and even at my lowest point, I've never been sorry that I met him. I've never been sorry for what he's meant to me. No matter what happens, even if it's the worst and this isn't forever, I'll never regret knowing him and how he's changed me.

"I'll never regret you, either," he promises. We lean in at the same time and press our lips together. The kiss is slow, gentle, and anything but demanding. Peace and exhaustion wash over me. He sighs, letting go of my hand, and I turn onto my side, molding my back to his front. He shifts away from me, pulling the sheet over us before I protest his absence. His arm wraps around me and his fingers slide between mine. I watch our fingers together, rubbing against each other, the feeling of our rings clacking together bringing me more joy than it ought to.

I try to burrow myself into him, tucking our joined hands beneath my head, and a silver bucket catches my eye. "Hey—we have champagne!"

I feel more than hear him chuckle, his body shaking a little behind me. "I completely forgot about that. Did you want some now?"

I snort, letting my eyes fall shut. "It'd be a waste. I'm too tired."

"Yeah, me too," he answers, though I think it's with just a touch of regret. "We'll save it for round two."

My cheeks stretch, a smile overtaking my face just as I nod off. Round two is going to be amazing.

* * *

And that's a full lid. Hope everyone enjoyed it, and I'm still working on getting my other stuff typed up. Keep your eyes peeled!


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